Skirting board query!

[Jimmywilko]

Hello,
I’m in the process of purchasing a property that needs some renovating. In some places the walls sortve merge in to the skirting boards (pics attached).

Could this be sorted by skimming the wall or would the skirting boards needs to be replaced?

Thanks,
James

 

[flameport]

Someone has skimmed the walls already with the skirting in place, and applied it far too thick in some areas.

Skimming the walls will make it worse.
Replacing the skirting won't fix it either as the walls are all out of true, you can either have straight skirting and wonky walls as you have now, or have the skirting bent out of shape to match the walls.

You will probably find they plastered around the sockets, switches and light fittings as well. Typical slapover job to hide a multitude of problems.

 

[robinbanks]

Likely you'll stop looking at it in a few weeks, when the universe delivers you a fresh set of problems to deal with

 

[Jimmywilko]

So what would be the best solution for smoothing the walls out?

 

[flameport]

what would be the best solution for smoothing the walls out?

Hack it all off and start again with new plaster and new skirting & architraves.

Or for less mess with the disadvantage of making the room slightly smaller, use driwall adhesive to bond plasterboard over the whole lot, skim and fit new skirting & architraves.

If doing either of those, all electrical wiring should be 100% replaced before the new boards / plaster is installed.
If the rooms are large enough, adding internal insulation would be something to consider as well.

 

[Jimmywilko]

Thanks Flameport. I wasn’t planning on doing such a huge overhaul of the space as it is generally in good decorative order.

Is there not a less obtrusive solution?
Why does the electrical wiring need to be replaced?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

No there isn't, you live with the crappy standards it's been built to or pay/DIY to have them fixed. I would like to take this opportunity to say that as you get older these crappy problems diminish. But I'd be lying.

 

[matlob]

To hide it a bit you could fit some half round trim along the top of the skirting and pack it out in places

 

[Odds]

Get a bolster chisel and tap out the lip of plaster around the top of the skirting, then fill in the gap to level it off. No fuss.